Gone are the days of newlyweds shuffling awkwardly in the centre of an otherwise empty dance floor. Today’s happy couples – and almost as often, their entire bridal party – are busting serious moves to less than conventional music. From sexy rhumba or crazy jazz hands to hip-hop and even techno, bridal parties are certainly marking their territory on the dance floor, not to mention on YouTube.

Regardless of the number of dancers or the complexity of the routine, it’s clear how much fun an unexpected bit of “rug-cutting” can be for both the bride and groom and their guests.

So, how do you “bring the funk” to your wedding reception?

First, you must plan ahead. Brisbane and Gold Coast choreographers recommend couples have six weeks to three months before the wedding, allowing ample time to come up with a routine, learn and rehearse it. The more people or the more complicated the dance moves, the more time you’ll need.

“It’s best to have finished lessons two weeks before the wedding,” advises Stephen Sutton of A1 Dance Fever Studio on the Gold Coast.

“People get stressed out and can get emotional with each other by that stage.”

If time is on your side, you need to select your song. Most choreographers will ask what you’re dancing to before they commit to a dance style.

“Most people have a love song that they’re emotionally connected to but quite often they just ask for a waltz because that’s all they’ve heard.”

Stephen likens putting a waltz routine with a salsa number as “sticking a round peg in a square hole”. While it pays to heed the advise of the experts, you also need to find a dance instructor who listens to what you want.

Your pick of song, or the use of props (umbrellas or canes, for example) should not deter a professional, according to Dance Direct principal Michelle Hurney.

“The more information you give the instructor the better, and the happier you’ll be with the outcome.”

The venue’s dance floor and the style of dress are also key components to a polished performance. A small portable dance floor may not suffice for a large group routine, just as a long train on your dress may encumber your Viennese Waltz.

Have fun during rehearsals

Michelle recommends making rehearsals fun for the bridal party dancers.

“You can have a barbecue and have a few drinks. It’s sometimes better to have an instructor come to you, rather than using their studio,” she said.

Be wary of packages that include beginner dance lessons, separate to your private tuition. Stephen believes they won’t necessarily improve your performance on the night and the money could be better spent on more private rehearsal time.

Much like the entire wedding planning process, the effort is worth it in the end. Richard and Vivienne, wed in October, began their rhumba rehearsals in July.

Self-confessed perfectionist, Richard admitted he wanted to do it well.

“Vivienne was intrigued by the idea and by the end of the first lesson it was clear just how much fun it was going to be.”

And as for stage fright?

“There’s been no time for nerves to build. It was always going to be one of the highlights of our night.”

In a nutshell

Plan ahead. You need between six weeks and three months.Pick your song. It can be anything. Don’t be afraid of “dirty dancing” in front of your grandparents, if that’s what you want to do. People have even used Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” as their song.Rehearse. Practice the routine at the venue, and in your dress, so you’re aware of the restrictions.Have fun. Refrain from tyranny! This is meant to be fun and if mistakes are made, it’s only going to add to the entertainment.

Dance styles

Tap
Jazz
Funk
Hip-hop
Contemporary
Ballroom
Latin American

About Peta-Jo

Peta-Jo, author of the book “Wedding Etiquette for Ferals”, works as a subeditor for regional Queensland newspapers and conducts regular book reviews on QUT’s MC Reviews website. Visit Peta-Jo’s website.

“Everything was put into perspective when we found out about the baby. It made us realise what was important and that it wasn’t about a big fancy wedding. It’s about the commitment to one another.”

Our featured couple, Paige and Luke, candidly share their wedding goal: to wed before the baby was born.

“The original plan was to get married in Bali in February 2012. We found out we were expecting another baby, so we changed the entire wedding to Geelong and before the baby came. It wasn’t easy, but we did it!” said Paige and Luke.

The cherry on top of the cake

“We believe that getting married was just icing on the cake of our amazing life that we already had together. The baby on the way, which we didn’t know about yet, was the cherry on top!”

Baby bumps and road bumps

“The main challenge was trying to please everybody,” the couple said, with Paige adding, “It was really hard trying to do everything our way without having outside influences sway decision making. If we had to do it again, I think that a wedding planner would have been great!”

The challenges during the time, however, gave the couple an opportunity to learn from each other.

“We got a lot closer as a couple, learning what each other’s strengths and weaknesses were and using them to the best of our ability.”

While Paige is great with the planning process, Luke is great with the practical side of things. “We worked well as a team.”

A personalised and meaningful ceremony

Paige and Luke’s ceremony took place at a venue very close to the Luke’s family’s heart.

“We chose the church we did because Paige’s grandparents and parents had both been married there, as well as having had our two-year-old son Hunter baptised there. There was no other venue that meant as much as Sts. Peter & Paul’s and it definitely did not disappoint,” Luke said. “Maybe one day Hunter or the next child will get married there.”

In terms of the actual ceremony, it was important for Paige and Luke to have their son Hunter be involved in the wedding.

“It was a running joke that Paige’s boy would be the page boy. It was lovely and at almost two years old, he did the best he could without getting distracted by the amount of people staring at him. He was gorgeous!” the couple enthused.

Chasing dreams together

Aside from their growing family, Paige and Luke believe that their shared dreams and goals in life are what make their relationship stronger.

“We are so alike, but so different at the same time! We constantly have the same thoughts and say to each other ‘Get out of my head!’ We have the same goals in life and we aren’t afraid to chase those dreams. We make each other laugh, we make mistakes like everybody else, but we get over it and move on. We just love each other so much and couldn’t imagine living our lives with anybody else!”

Credits

Photography by Stephanie Newbold. Check out her website to view her online portfolio. Contact her through her email: stephanienewboldphotography@hotmail.com.

As you might have noticed, LWH has been a tad quiet recently. Unfortunately day-job commitments, the responsibilities of running another website, and the fact that my own wedding is rapidly coming up have meant that LWH has had to take a leave of absence of late.

We do have some material waiting in the wings, and hope to post this up when we get a chance. Do bear with us during this time.

Alicia and Ryan recently celebrated their one-year wedding anniversary, but their love story stretches back a good deal further--decades, in fact.

"Ryan and I actually went to school together, but didn’t become friends until a year later when we started working together and our friendship groups had merged," says Alicia. "We hit it off instantly but it took almost a year of friendship before it developed into a relationship." Keep reading for the rest of this gorgeous love story!

Although wedding planners are often involved throughout the entire duration of the wedding planning process, Kim Williams of K.I.S.S. Weddings has found that her "on the day" consultation services are increasingly in demand.

It's a title, though, that Kim points out is somewhat misleading. "Usually the on-the-day coordinator does not step in at the very last minute. Instead, they're generally called in at least a few weeks before the day to meet with the couple." For more about on-the-day wedding coordination, keep reading!

As entertainment industry veterans, Matt and Jackie are well-versed in putting together a flawless production, and they tackled the task of preparing for their farm wedding the same way they would prepare for a show: every detail was covered to ensure a perfect performance, and all in a single take.

Though there may have been technical glitches and behind-the-scene dramas out of sight of the audience, at the end of the day Matt and Jackie experienced the wedding they had always envisioned--an open-venue, family-oriented gathering. Read on for the full post!

Thanks to Stephanie for inviting me to have a chat with you today while she's off having a well-deserved break.

If you're newly engaged and have just started reading wedding blogs, it can seem like an exclusive club where everyone knows the lingo and has forgotten what it was like being a freshly-minted member. Take letterpress stationery, for example, everyone's talking about it and you don't want to be the one who asks, 'Um, so what exactly is letterpress?' lest everyone look at you as if you'd revealed you were planning to wear hot pants down the aisle.
So here's a crash course to get you up to speed. Read on for more!

“The weather that day was insane! It was cold, grey, and very windy!” says Malaysia-born photographer Jenny Sun of Astrid and Kelly’s recent wedding celebration.

But despite the gale-force winds and the downpour that followed, the couple's spirits weren’t dampened, and theirs was a ceremony filled with blissful, meaningful moments. In today's post, Jenny takes us behind the scenes of this gorgeous union. Read on for more!

Indian weddings frequently entail elaborate and colourful rituals, not to mention guest lists that can easily balloon to the size of a small town. By holding their wedding in Cancun, Nina and Anesh kept their guest list to a minimum, but the opposite was true for their wedding ceremony. Not only did they participate in a Hindu ceremony, but also in a traditional Mayan wedding ceremony; at home in Canada they tied the knot for a third time with a civil ceremony. Read on as the team of Derek Campbell and Lorena Jaimes of Photos in Cancun share their experiences of this multi-faith, three-day destination wedding in Cancun, Mexico. Read on for more!

Food and passion often go hand in hand, and when you're a recently engaged pastry chef, what better place to hold a celebratory shoot than in the kitchen? In today's shoot, by Helene Dujardin from Tartelette, Laura and Alex celebrate their engagement by baking that most beloved of all treats: chocolate-chip cookies. Read on for the rest of the shoot!

"Some people assume that anyone purchasing their wedding gown from us is a full-on goth!" says Lara Ravasini, owner of Gothic Weddings.

But the truth is quite different, with the majority of Lara's customers simply wanting to stand out from the crowd on their wedding day--and know that they can look back on the experience knowing that it was a unique and memorable one.

"Most customers have a very specific gown in mind for their big day and have planned the gown down to the finest detail," she says. And those who come to Lara typically do because they are unable to find the style they're after in a traditional wedding store or in the portfolios of many of the major designers. Click here to keep reading!

If you eschew sharp lines and austere tones in favour of the soft and the subtle, then look no further than these felt hanging ornaments by blogger Andrea of Strawberry Chic.With their gentle, flowing edges, these handcrafted ornaments are a simple way to add a touch of the rustic to an outdoor setting. And because they're so unassuming, they can do double-time as a Christmas or seasonal decoration. Read on for more!

A quick google for anything wedding-related reveals a plethora of inspiration boards, dizzyingly expensive must-buys and shiver-inducing bridal existentialism. Just last week we were moved to newsletter-based rants due to a few particularly questionable articles and posts, and it turns out that we’re not alone. Today we feature a guest post from reader Jenna Z, whose forays into the wedding magazine world inspired her to reflect on what a wedding should–and should not–be.

10 things a wedding is not about

Like many girls, I had a lot of ideas about the kind of wedding I’d have, even before I got engaged. But not the ideas you might expect. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Disney, fairy tales, love stories and princesses–but I did not want a big, extravagant, expensive, over-the-top wedding. You see, I believed weddings are about getting married, not just having a wedding.

Then I got engaged, and all of a sudden I actually had a wedding to plan. And as I flicked through magazines and blogs, I was bombarded by possibilities. Throw in some family drama, and my resolution to have a low-key, stress-free affair was quickly falling by the wayside. I got so overwhelmed I stopped planning all together. I set a date in the distance and decided I wouldn’t think about the wedding “for now”. Time passed and before I knew it, I had six months to go and almost nothing booked. So, as I dive into preparations once again–with decidedly less time than I had to start with–I’ve made a couple of lists to keep things in perspective:

The best weddings are those that are alive with emotion and meaning--and a good dose of spontaneity, and it's fair to say that with their surprise garden wedding, newlyweds Tam and Steve had all of these in spades. Today Tammy chats to us about her relationship with Steve, and the journey the two have shared since meeting online.